Quote of the Day: Daniil Medvedev invites Novak Djokovic, John McEnroe to dream dinner

If you could invite anyone to dinner, alive or dead…

Daniil Medvedev, ever the grounded soul, stuck to the world of the living when asked which characters from tennis history he would invite to a hypothetical dinner party.

“Out of the court I'm a chill person that can talk to anyone,” smiled the former world No. 1 after defeating Tomas Machac in four sets on Saturday.

After some back and forth, Medvedev settled on a trio of former world No. 1s: Novak Djokovic, John McEnroe, and Yevgeny Kafelnikov:

Q. You said you can talk to anybody. Just for the fun of it, if you could have a little dinner party with three people in tennis history, anybody...

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Tennis history, okay.

Q. Yeah, anybody. To sit down, have a fun dinner or an interesting dinner, who would it be and what would the conversation be?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Important question. What would we talk about? Would we talk tennis or life because it's going to depend…

Q. You would talk life.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Life, so no tennis.

Q. You can talk a little tennis.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: A little tennis. I would say Novak just because, you know, I would like to know his -- it's a funny question. When you say three people, I want to have an honest conversation where I can ask question, they can ask questions, it's private, no cameras, and we can really talk honestly.

I would say Novak, number one. Two others, and in the tennis history you say... John McEnroe, two, not bad company. Number three, Kafelnikov. We're not close. So that would be my three.

Perhaps Kafelnikov, who won both Roland Garros and Olympic gold, could give Medvedev advice on how to approach a jam-packed season that will see the typically clay-averse hard-court specialist playing in Paris twice in three months.

Medvedev weathered more rainy conditions to advance under the roof on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, wryly admittng the shock injury suffered by a lost pigeon helped give him a second wind as the match approached its critical point.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my God, if it gives me extra minute to breath, it would be perfect,’ and it did. For me it was a good moment,” joked Medvedev, who gave his regards to the injured bird.

“The referee did a good job. He was very gentle. I think important. I hope the bird is fine. Maybe they take it to the vet clinic or something. I don't know. We need to ask what happened after.”

Medvedev has been in full flight through three rounds on the terre battue, getting more comfortable on clay in the last two seasons with a Masters 1000 victory at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and two second-week appearances in Paris in the last three years. Might he maintain the momentum long enough to make that dream dinner party a reality?